Blue Ox sparkling rosé

Sparkling wine is a mandatory accessory to the endofyear holidays, and in recent years there has been a groundswell of exciting new California bubblies. One of the Bay Area’s newest sparkling wine specialists is Blue Ox Wine Co., located in a small warehouse in west Berkeley. Winemaker Josh Hammerling has put out lots of experimental styles, fashioning fizzy wines from nontraditional grapes like Valdiguie. Among his most festive is a sparkling rosé called Ask the Dust (named for the John Fante novel), a rendition of oldvine Zinfandel from the historic Enz Vineyard in Hollister (San Benito County) that has the exuberant fruitiness of a watermelon slushy.

Blue Ox Wine Co. Ask the Dust Sparkling Rosé of Zinfandel 2019 ($36). Available at www.blueoxwineco.com or the tasting room, 1350 Fifth St., Berkeley.

Kelsey McClellan / Special to The Chronicle Ask the Dust is an exuberant sparkling rosé from Blue Ox Wine.